Paper Hearts Are Torn That Way
by Omgjelloz
Summary: Finn has been in love with Princess Bubblegum for as long as he can remember.  But when the fate of a friend hangs on the line, he must learn to let her go.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Finn struggled, trying to break free from the vampire's deathly grasp. She had NO right to vilate him in such a way, and he would sooner fall dead than let the queen take her prize.

"Cut it out, Marceline! Seriously, this isn't funny!"

Marceline laughed in a sinister tone, continuing to tighten her hold on the boy.

"Geez, calm down, nutbag! I just want to see what you look like without it. No stop squirming!"

Against the boy's better judgement, Marceline torn the white hat from the helpless boy's head. Her eyes grew wide with excitement, and she began to giggle at the blonde tuff of hair behind it. Finn turned bright red, trying to hide it behind his sweaty palms.

"I know, I know. It looks ridiculous. You don't have to rub it in my face."

Marceline playfully slapped the boy's cheek with his stolen hat. Finn pulled a hand down from his forehead and rubbed it, glarring at her in frustration. She giggled again and pulled his hands away.

"Relax, Finn."

She gently pressed her chilling lips against his blooming cheek, leaving a slight pale imprint.

"You look cute."

Finn stood there, his whole body paralyzed by shock of her advance. Did Marceline just…_kiss him_? And even more intriging to him: did she just call him _cute_? She had done so before, but it had always felt different. It had always seemed more of a jest than as if she was actually serious about the manner. Yet, this time…this time…

Marceline took a swing at his arm.

"What's gotcha there, day dreamer? Are we going pixie slaying, or are you just gonna sit there like a lump all day?"

Finn fell back down to the ground and shook his head, trying to clear his mind. What the heck was he thinking? The undead girl was just messing with his head again. For some reason, despite the numerous times she had pulled it in the past, Finn still continued to fall for it. Why did this girl love to mess with him so much? Why was she so persistant on driving him to the edge of insanity?

""Huh…NO!"

Finn snatched his hat back from her the cold grip of her hands and retied it around his head.

" Now let's go slay some pixies!"

Jake watched their exchange from afar. He felt nearly sick with pain, and he could no longer feel the beat of his own heart. It was broken. His own buddy- his best friend- had lied to him. Jake had never slayen Marceline that day. No, instead Finn had _saved_ her. He had rescued the damned beast. And now… now he had the audacity to go behind his own brother's back to be with her.

Jake turned away from the scene. He couldn't bare to watch it. He couldn't bare to see the meloncoly of betrayal that was so eagarly laid out before him. SO he walked away from that bush. With every step he could feel the heat of black vile brew beneath him. Now, more than ever , he wanted to see Marceline dead before his own eyes. He wanted to see her screaming for mercy at his very foot, begging for help. And he knew just the person for the job.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry that chapter 2 has taken so long to write you guys. I've had the overall plot in my head since I wrote the first chapter of the story. The only problem was, I just wasn't sure on how to write the second chapter without skipping through the story too fast. XD So thanks for waiting, and here it is! ;D**

**Chapter 2**

Finn watched as the small pebble hit the water repeated, each skid mark slowly rippling into the next. His mind was an empty labyrinth and yet, a silent mob. For two weeks had he waited here, and for two weeks had she failed to show. Where was she? The question only penetrated more in its nature, ravaging the young boy's mind until he could barely stand to think.

Why was it driving him to insanity?

He took another rock, rigid as his own anger, and pelted it against the air. This time it did not skid or meander against it; his heart merely sunk into the depths below. He pulled his knees close, as a cold soul trying to comfort its lonely self.

The vampire watched the child from far off, her mind plagued with a relative disease. She wanted to tell the boy, to explain every detail of it all, but she knew that it would only torture him more. She would have to play every word upon her tongue as if it were a nonchalant game, and yet still leave her mark upon the boy. She had to protect him…

To protect…

How foreign those words felt upon her lips. How long had is been since she had done so; How long had it been since she had cared. Perhaps it was that they were similar in their trails of mind and thought, or that he was all but a few left of her species. But despite the motives of it all, Marceline smiled. For once she could just live to be, and not to be to live.

Air of the creatures wings tickled the boy's ear, and he looked to see the small creature beside him. It floated down as its features slowly became more human in nature, until it sat in a similar position beside him.

Finn smiled.

At last his soul was at peace.

She imitated what the boy had done only moments before; she pulled her knees in, likewise, her eyes boring themselves pensively into the water below.

Finn caught the painful expression stricken upon her face.

"Marceline, what's wrong?"

Endless moments filled the silence in awaiting her reply. The girl took in a deep breath, her head sinking deep into her knees with melancholy.

"I'm dead, Finn."

Finn laughed.

"Of course you are, _M'Lady_, you're a vampire!"

He blushed. No matter how many times Finn said the phrase he just couldn't get over the warm feeling it brought inside of him.

"Finn, I-"

Marceline stopped as the knowledge of fragile truth resurfaced in her mind. She knew couldn't tell him.

She _couldn't._

The guilt of it all was concealed by a false lit smile in her deception. Her voiced forced a small laugh, as if caught by the boy's own trap. Diversion had always been her greatest weapon, and yet never had it been so benevolent to the girl as it was to her now.

"So, _Hero_, what rightechous things have you been up to lately?"

A smirk crossed the adventurer's face, as he pondered over the sea of all his good doings since their last meeting.

"Well, Jake and I attended Princess Bubblegum's Ball last night."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, we had a blast! Lady Rainicorn and Jake drank _way_ to much punch, Lumpy Space Princess attempted to crash the party- and he's the best part, she was actually invited! She just never got the invitation because the mailman didn't know the password to get into Lumpy Space! And…"

Finn blushed.

"And what?"

"I….I think that Princess Bubblegum- likes me. All this time she's acted like a friend- only a friend. It was like she was completely oblivious to my feelings for her. And then…last night she was acting like she _wanted_ me. For every dance she wanted me to be her partner. When I would look up at her she would have this determined look in her eye. And then on the terrace, she…almost kissed me."

"But…you didn't?"

The rosy blotches upon the by's cheek spread, covering his entire portrait."

"I….was scared. I've never kissed a girl before, and I don't…really know how."

The vampire's eyes widened as the sudden epiphany was laid out before her. She knew how her final mark would be made, and in doing so, she would not lead the boy down upon the road of suspicion.

"Well, you… you have to do it kind of slowly, like this."

Her eyes gently faded into a warm glow of innocent seduction. Finn felt his mind slip away in the moment as he felt a cold hand intertwine with his own. Was this a game, or did she really feel…

"Th-then what?"

Her voice tickled his ear in a soft whisper.

"You close your eyes…."

Both did so with gentle ease.

"And lean in, slowly…."

And Finn kissed her.

He was slow nor greedy with his touch, but the moment had overtaken him to a point beyond the boy's control. Both pulled back in shock of the moment, blooming red in their reaction. The wind rustled endlessly between them, each staring at the other in the same tone of unexpected emotion.

Marceline smiled timidly.

"Just like that."

The vampire's ears, keen with their blind sight, suddenly heard the malicious cries of sweet people in the distance. She had to go.

Her body rose above the ground, in frantic means to float from sight. The boy attempted to grab her hand, but she continued to move. He felt it slowly slip away, and her body faded into the raven's night.

He slowly meandered on his way back home, dazed in confusion and thought. Finn could hear cries r in a far off haze, but he was too forgone to investigate.

Marceline merely hovered from above, watching the boy as he naively departed. She turned her head to the black horizon and watched the ambiguous crowd advance from the shadows behind.

Her time had come.


End file.
